I am currently using Windows XP and I am attempting to install Fedora Core 2. When I attempt to boot off of the CD it boots into the menus but regardless of which options I choose it loads vmlinux and loads most of initrd.img before restarting. It doesn't freeze or give any error it simply restarts. I have copied the CD's to the hard drive without any errors so I assume that they are not corrupt. There is a verification file on the Fedora core 2 download site although the directions do not make sense so I assume they use a linux command which I do not have access to. Is there any other way to verify the CDs or ideas of how to make the installation boot?

Maybe its your memory? Do you have enough space on your hardrive to do a dual boot? What about your resolution?

When I was looking through the boot options I found the memory tester and the memory test ran fine with no errors. I have enough space on my hard drive but I would rather not dual boot I was hoping to format the drive and install Fedora. My monitor supports up to 1280x1024 although I don't think that is a problem because the Fedora installation still wouldn't boot in text mode.

Try using the options listed in the F2- F5 keys. Did you run the MD5 checksum on the ISO's? What about your CD-drive? try running the cds on a different computer

Sorry I can't be of much help! All my linux installations ran fine. I have personally not experienced any problems with booting from CDs.

I have tried many of the boot options but they all restart my computer. I'm not sure how to run the MD5 checksum because the description of how to preform it on the Fedora site is in Linux. Is it possible to verify the ISOs in Windows? I currently don't have another system to test the CD's on. I've tried another CD drive but it can't read the burnt CDs.

I have found a program to verify the ISOs and they are fine. I have also attempted to extract the ISOs to my hard drive and boot with the boot.iso image on a CD. It still restarts.

hi,
how did you burn the ISO's to cd?

I burnt the ISOs in Nero using the burn image command. In the options there is write per track, write per disc and write per disc/96. I have tried all 3 methods and nothing seems to work. I also finalize the CDs.

I found a new message I didn't notice before. Right before the computer restarts it flashes "Uncompressing linux ... OK, booting the kernel." I'm not sure if that can help diagnose the problem.

the message you saw,
"Uncompressing linux ... OK, booting the kernel."
is normal.
I would suggest trying a different distro..
try Mandrake.
I have heard Fedora Core 2 has some problems
with duel booting. It could be that whatever is causing
that is also causing your prob.
Like I said, give Mandrake a whirl.
or SUSE
or Debian
or Knoppix
or Slackware
or Gentoo